About UrbanLab

UrbanLab is an architecture and urban design firm founded in 2000 by Martin Felsen and Sarah Dunn. UrbanLab’s projects span scales, from large, urban proposals to small, residential projects and exhibitions. Our primary interest is in forward-looking projects that speculate on a more resilient and resourceful tomorrow.

UrbanLab brings creativity and collaboration to each design project. We view challenges as opportunities to create memorable buildings and places that are both beautiful and surprising. We routinely assemble talented multidisciplinary teams with the highest levels of expertise and experience to realize architecture and urban design projects. Our design process is characterized by deep inquiry and collaborative exchange; design work is informed by intensive research and an experimental approach. We strive to invent innovative, environmentally responsible design solutions and create spaces that establish healthy connections between people and their environments. Built work to date includes mixed-use commercial buildings, housing, houses, restaurants, art galleries, large-scale resilient infrastructural projects, recreational landscapes, and cities.

The practice has been recognized nationally and internationally. Awards include first prize in the History Channel’s City of the Future Competition, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, and several design awards from the AIA. In 2010, the Architectural League of New York included UrbanLab in their Emerging Voices program. UrbanLab has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010 and 2012, and in the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. UrbanLab’s work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Leadership

Martin Felsen

Martin Felsen, FAIA

contact: felsen at urbanlab dot com

Martin Felsen, FAIA, co-founded UrbanLab in 2000. He is a registered architect in Illinois and New York. He was educated at Virginia Tech (B.Arch), and Columbia University (MS-AAD). Martin is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and he is an Associate Professor in the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) College of Architecture.

After working for Eisenman Architects, Stan Allen Architects and 1100 Architects in New York, he and partner Sarah Dunn established UrbanLab, an architecture and urban design firm. UrbanLab aims to synthesize diverse methodologies, technical innovation, and hybrid vocabularies drawn equally from architecture and its complex urban and natural contexts. Built work to date includes houses, housing, mixed-use buildings, restaurants, installations, and urban infrastructural projects. Parallel to this realized work, Martin is a Principal Investigator for research projects funded by organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Institute of Architect’s College of Fellows. His research focuses on public infrastructure and the resources driving American (and American-style) cities and megaregions.

Martin received the Dubin Family Young Architect Award in 2007 from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Chicago. Martin’s work has been recognized nationally and internationally. Awards include first prize in the History Channel’s City of the Future Competition, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, and several design awards from AIA Chicago. In 2010, the Architectural League of New York included UrbanLab in their Emerging Voices program. UrbanLab has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010 and 2012, and in the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. UrbanLab’s work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sarah Dunn

Sarah Dunn

contact: dunn at urbanlab dot com

Sarah Dunn co-founded UrbanLab in 2000. She was educated at Columbia University (B.Arts and M.Arch). Sarah is a Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has also taught advanced studios at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

After working at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, she and partner Martin Felsen established UrbanLab, a collaborative architecture and urban design firm. UrbanLab strives to respond to the complexity, growth and unintended consequences of the modern city by developing a catalogue of architectural, infrastructural and urbanistic design strategies, in particular examining natural and artificial systems underpinning the built environment. Built work to date includes mixed-use commercial buildings, housing, houses, restaurants, art galleries, large-scale resilient infrastructural projects, recreational landscapes, and cities.

Sarah’s work has been recognized nationally and internationally. Awards include first prize in the History Channel’s City of the Future Competition, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, and several design awards from AIA Chicago. In 2010, the Architectural League of New York included UrbanLab in their Emerging Voices program. UrbanLab has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010 and 2012, and in the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. UrbanLab’s work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.